Flowertown medical practice joins UMA

by Dick
PetersonSpecial
to The Catalyst
Employees and their families living in Summerville no longer have to
travel into Charleston to see a University Medical Associates (UMA)
family medicine physician or be referred to an MUSC specialist.

Flowertown University Family Medicine, an established Summerville
practice, recently joined the UMA network expanding employee choices of
family physicians throughout the Lowcountry.

Formerly known as Flowertown Family Physicians, the practice is located
near the intersection of Main Street and U.S. Highway 78 in
Summerville. It is operated by Anthony Glaser, M.D., Kimberly Mallin,
M.D., and family nurse practitioner Amanda McFann.

“The big thing about being affiliated with UMA is that MUSC is the
largest employer in the area,” said outpatient practice manager Diana
Hall. “Altogether with the university, UMA and the Medical University
Hospital Authority has about 10,000 employees here in the Lowcountry.”

When it comes to surviving in the highly-regulated field of private
practice, MUSC has the size and clout to negotiate with insurance
companies and provide the business management services that independent
practices can hardly afford.

“The truth is that independent private practice is very hard to
survive. It won’t make any money. MUSC gets paid more than private
physicians do, because they can negotiate with insurance companies, and
the private physician can’t,” Glaser said. “You can’t adjust your
prices; you can’t see more patients; you cut your overhead to the bone
and you still lose money. So you have to find a way out. That’s why
there aren’t many private practices left, at least not in primary
care.”

And the patient benefits. By having MUSC’s electronic medical records
system in place, Glaser and Mallin have immediate access to patient
charts and test results provided by MUSC physicians and specialists
without having to wait for the information to be faxed.

“And we have a lot of patients here in Summerville who value the
medical university and value the name of MUSC,” Mallin said. “We’ve had
quite a few who have said they want a doctor affiliated with MUSC.”

She said that family medicine in particular gives her a sense of
satisfaction that few other medical specialties could have provided.

“I’ve got whole families I take care of; grandparents, moms, dads and
children. That’s the part that makes it worthwhile. If I were just
seeing sore throats and treating chronic illnesses, I’d go nuts, if
that were all it was,” Mallin said. “But it’s not. It’s getting to know
the patients and the families and taking care of them as the big
picture.”

Both doctors said they appreciate being able to provide medical care
free of having to run a business. By affiliating with UMA, they can
concentrate on what they do best, which is caring for their patients.
They can leave the business management end of the practice to those who
do practice management best.

“None of us went to business school,” Glaser said. “We went to medical
school. Running this as a business gets more and more onerous all the
time with all the bureaucracy and federal and state rules. Since March
(when the affiliation went into effect), I’ve been able to focus more
on patient care.”

Born in London, Glaser holds bachelor’s and doctorate degrees in social
psychology from the University of Sussex, England. “And then things got
weird,” he said, allowing a wry smile to crease his face. “I went to
the American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine and was
assistant, associate and then full professor of medical psychology and
biostatistics.”

There, he decided to become a medical student while remaining full time
on the school’s faculty. He followed his first two years of medical
school in the Caribbean with his third and fourth years at a group of
affiliated hospitals in Detroit.

“Then I went looking for a residency in family medicine, preferably
with a temperature closer to that of the Caribbean than Detroit’s.” He
found Charleston and MUSC. Glaser has been practicing family medicine
in Summerville since 1998, having bought the practice from his original
partner, Dan Hibner, M.D., about six years ago.

Glaser was joined by Mallin who also spent her family medicine
residency with MUSC. A North Carolina native and graduate of East
Carolina University’s Brody School of Medicine, Mallin spent her
surgery residency at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, but
took time off from medicine to take stock of her career goals.

“I went to Florida and worked as a librarian,” she said. “During that
time I learned about how difficult life can be. I decided to put some
of that to use. When I came back, I did a family medicine residency at
MUSC and here I am.”

McFann serves an important role in the office, helping families with
the preventative care they need and by treating acute and chronic
conditions as directed by the doctors. She is also skilled in
performing simple procedures in accordance with her training as a
family nurse practitioner.

A native of Charleston, McFann with her husband and 21-month-old
daughter, Ruby, makes her home in Summerville. She holds a bachelor’s
degree in biology from Presbyterian College and bachelor’s and master’s
degrees in nursing from MUSC. She is nationally certified through the
American Academy of Nurse Practitioners which qualified her family
specialty. She has completed training as a breastfeeding counselor
through South Carolina’s WIC (Women, Infants and Children) program. She
also serves as a clinical preceptor for MUSC’s College of
Nursing. McFann has been working in the Summerville office since
her graduation from MUSC in 2006.

Friday, July 4, 2008Catalyst Online is published weekly,
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